Saturday, March 29, 2014

SECOND SATURDAY (MARCH 2014).
Fifteen of us gathered at the Mask Center in the Little Five Points
Community Center in Atlanta, Georgia, for 90 minutes of Atlanta
InterPlay. (photo by Callahan Pope McDonough)

Atlanta InterPlay met for its March 2014 Second Saturday play session. Fifteen of us, including Atlanta InterPlay leader, Jennifer Denning, met at 10:00 am for 90 minutes of freeing movement and talk.

WARMING UP.(photo by Ruth Schowalter)

The forms of InterPlay allow a way of being together that is "sneaky deep." Before you know it, you are talking about things that matter in new ways.

Today, Jennifer Denning had us "babble" about the small circles of friends or people that we belong to because of our special interests. She gave, for example, Prius owners who buy special cars because of their commitments to environmental conservation. After several opportunities of talking to different people about our inner circles, we got to speak about the times we penetrated a circle that we didn't belong to and the benefits we got from being involved and engaged in that "foreign" group.

TALKING IN PAIRS.(photo by Ruth Schowalter)

In InterPlay, when one person talks, the other person listens. And there are so many different fun ways to tell stories. Come to an InterPlay session in Atlanta on our Second Saturdays and experience this meaningful fun for yourself.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Those who’ve done InterPlay with me know one of my favorite
forms is “I could talk about.” I often use it at the beginning of a session. We
sit in the circle and introduce ourselves and say our name and something we could talk about.

Usually we go around the circle 3 plus times. There are so
many things we could talk about: our lives are rich with experience. Sometimes it's difficult for me to listen when someone talks and talks and talks about something (I'm sure I'm sometimes the one talking too much myself...), but I could listen
to people share what they could talk
about forever.

I could talk about the tulips in bloom!

I could talk about being shy and loving structures that help
me communicate.

I could talk about my deep curiosity about my fellow human
beings.

I could talk about my desire to know and be known.

These little snippets of personal information are so
intriguing to me. We learn so much about each other in this exercise.

I could talkabout learning that sometimes a few words are
just enough.

I could talk about the girls I teach through SynchronicityTheatre sharing themselves so easily through this exercise.

I could talk about creating connections.

I could talk about my sweet children.

Why do I teach InterPlay? I hunger for connections and play
gets me connected. Having a stranger become known broadens my world, broadens
my heart. It seems the more I connect with others, the more I connect with
something essential about myself. InterPlay- what a beautiful gift to give
myself, to offer my world.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

AFTER THE BOOK PERFORMANCE. Following Sheila K. Collins' performance of Warrior Mother at the Alta Senior Living Center, some of the audience members lingered to talk with the author and to pose for this picture. (photos by Ruth Schowalter)

At a book performance
Sheila introduces herself as a “dancing social worker,” which always succeeds
in intriguing her audience, and those in her audience at the Alta
Senior Living Center in John’s Creek, an Atlanta suburb, were no exception.
Their interest heightened to see where this 74-year-old author was going to
take her dancing social work at the launching of their very first book club
meeting. They were not disappointed.

NEW BOOK CLUB KICK OFF. Sheila had the honor of being the first author for the seniors' newly launched book club. Two of the audience members had already read her book, Warrior Mother, and were ready with questions. Sheila promised she would return for another book club meeting in the future for a more in-depth discussion.

Sheila’s book readings are
unique in that they combine explanation, reading, music, dance, and other
InterPlayers. Jennifer Denning, Atlanta InterPlayer Director, Christine
Gautreaux, and I were there at the Alta Senior Living Center to assist in the
performances based on themes that Sheila pulls from her book. These meaningful
themes, which include mothering, children, death, and joy, thoroughly engage
the audience members who soon discover they are in the presence of a woman who
has lost two adult children to disease and found a way to survive their deaths.

ATLANTA INTERFAITH BROADCASTERS.

After her book performance
at the Alta Senior Living Center, Sheila had an engagement with Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters (AIB) in the heart
of downtown Atlanta. With Christine managing interstate traffic on a cold rainy
day, Sheila arrived at AIB just in time for filming. Audrey Galex, a
free-lance producer for AIB-TV and an Atlanta InterPlayer, had invited Sheila
to participate in a panel discussion about managing grief.

AIB Producer Audrey Galex and Sheila

The short but very interesting
panel discussion concluded with Sheila using a form of InterPlay to give
viewers a “taste” of what her book, Warrior
Mother, is about.Combining
storytelling with movement, she was supported by three other InterPlayers (Audrey,
Christine and me), who echoed her movements.

Each time Sheila performs
her book, the performance is different. The variation results from the
improvisational nature of the InterPlay tools. When Sheila returns to Atlanta
in May and does other book performances, I encourage you to check one out.
You’ll never think of an author reading in the same way again or the themes
that she brings to the stage.